


When Hate Gives Way

by jericks3



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - World War II, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dog Sven (Disney), F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Kinda smuttish, Kristanna, Language, Original Character - Freeform, Shetland Bus AU, Spies, Spy Anna, Spy Kristoff, World War II, coming home AU, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-07 17:43:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17965166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jericks3/pseuds/jericks3
Summary: As Kristoff navigates a difficult time in history he reflects on all the things he hates.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by Karis' story 'Coming Home' and the first episode of the show "Shetland", both of which I absolutely adore. I am aware that there are probably some historical inaccuracies, but unless they are absolutely glaring, I ask that you give me a bit of creative license.  
> This is also my first M rated anything. It's relatively tame, but still nerve wracking to post all the same.  
>  
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!

     Kristoff hated Nazis.

  
     He hated all they stood for. He hated the bullying. He hated how they took his beautiful home town of Arendelle, Norway and turned it into a dismal, gray, hopeless, hole. It was true that he didn’t actually remember living there. Almost the whole of his life was spent on Shetland, he was a British citizen, and he considered himself Scottish just as much as he considered himself Norwegian, but he thought that all those factors only made him hate the Nazis more.

     He hated that his twisted knee kept him from fighting when he was perfectly able to work the fishing boat by himself.

  
     He really hated that his father’s fishing business required him to work in such close proximity to the bloody Nazis.

  
     “Everything seems to be in order.” The S.S. officer said as he looked over his manifest, then raised his left arm in salute. “Heil Hitler!”

  
     Sven, one of the biggest and hairiest dogs most people would ever see, growled at the officer menacingly, who promptly left the boat.

  
     “Good boy.” Kristoff scratched Sven’s head.

  
     Kristoff then set to work unloading his boat, trying not to take out his disdain for Hitler on his barrels of fish. He was nearly finished when Sven gave a small woof. Kristoff turned with a scowl, ready to tell whatever S.S. officer that was watching him to take a hike, when he stopped short.

  
     At the edge of his boat stood a girl.

     His first thought was that she was very pretty. She had red hair, which she tied up in two braids, freckle dusted cheeks, and she had a wide smile that even from a distance he could tell made her blue eyes sparkle.

     His second thought was that there was something wrong with her, because she was smiling at him. He had never seen her before in his life (if he had, he’d remember), so he couldn’t figure out why she was    grinning at him like he was a childhood friend.

  
     “Ja?” He finally asked after what felt like too much eye contact.

  
     “Skal du ta meg med til søsteren min?" She asked him. ‘Are you taking me to see my sister?’

  
     Kristoff could tell right away that Norwegian wasn’t her first language. He had grown up speaking both, his adopted parents having been from Norway originally, and he could hear in the distinct way she said her vowels that she wasn’t a native speaker.

  
     “I don’t take people places.” He replied in English.

  
     The smile on her face vanished and was replaced with a look that bordered on terror.

  
     To his surprise, instead of walking away, she hopped aboard. She gave him a glimpse of freckly knees underneath her brown skirt as she did so. Sven gave a happy bark and trotted up to her to receive a pat on the head.

  
     “Please, I need your help.” The girl said desperately, a focused look in her eye. “I need to get back to England.”

  
     Her accent was a posh one that clearly indicated good schooling.

  
     The word ‘spy’ popped up in Kristoff’s head.

  
     She certainly didn’t look like a spy, but he supposed that was the point. There was no other explanation as to why the girl would so desperately be begging for passage back to England.

  
     “Hey!” Someone called out to them and Kristoff looked to see a familiar officer that liked to use Kristoff to practice his English walking towards them.

  
     “My name is Kathe Ivarson. I’m from Sweden.” The girl whispered to him frantically.

  
     “Hallo, Kristoff!” The Officer greeted him when he got closer.

  
     “Officer Schuer.” Kristoff nodded.

  
     “Or should I say, ‘howdy pardner’!” Schuer attempted a horrible American accent that he clearly gleaned from a Western movie he wasn’t supposed to have watched.

  
     He hated Schuer because he had a feeling that if it weren’t for the swastika on his arm they would get along just fine.

  
     “We do’nae say ‘howdy’ in Scotland.” Kristoff chuckled lightly.

  
     “Who is this?” Schuer asked pointing to the girl, Kathe, seeing her for the first time.

  
     Kristoff glanced at her for a moment and it was clear her whole world was hinged on what he did and said in the next few moments.

  
     “This is my… cousin, Kathe. She’s from Sweden. I’m supposed to be taking her to see my mother.”

  
     Out of the corner of his eye he saw the girl sway slightly, and it had nothing to do with the gentle rocking of the boat.

  
     “Do you have your papers?” Officer Schuer asked her.

  
     She produced them quickly from the leather satchel bag she had slung over her shoulder and gave him a big smile. After a moment of looking over the identification and travel permit’s she’d given him Officer Schuer frowned.

  
     “Your travel papers are not in order, Fraulein. The date here is for yesterday.” He pointed to paper. “I’m sorry.”

  
     He could see the panic set back in on the girl’s face.

  
     “Oh, come on now.” Kristoff sighed. “You’re going to punish her because I forgot I was supposed to pick her up? I’m only one day late.”

  
     “I’m sorry, friend.” Schuer shrugged. “There is nothing to be done.”

  
     “Listen, friend,” Kristoff put extra emphasis on the word, “you don’t understand. If I come home without her, my Mam will kill me dead. I mean that. She will kill me, and if I’m dead, you’ve lost yourself a fisherman. Come winter, that will be a big problem for the people here in Arendelle, because there aren’t very many fishermen willing to navigate these waters in bad weather. It would be a shame if a food shortage was all your fault… People get desperate in desperate times.”

  
     Schuer shifted uncomfortably for a moment. He knew that while no one would ever be able to trace a food shortage back to him, it wouldn’t be good for the occupying force if people got restless from hunger during the middle of winter.

  
     He then held out the papers to Kathe.

  
     “Everything seems to be in order.” He nodded then turned to Kristoff and pointed at the barrels sitting on the dock. “So long as I get one of those barrels next time.”

  
     The request surprised Kristoff, as he had never taken Schuer as one to deal underneath the table.

  
     “Of course.” Kristoff agreed with a nod. “Well, we’d better finish unloading if we want to get back before nightfall.”

  
     “Oh,” Schuer looked a little disappointed that their conversation was ending, “well Auf Wiedersehen! I hope to see you again Fraulein.”

  
     “Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Schuer.” Kathe gave a big smile.

  
     Kristoff could tell her German was perfect. He had never mastered the language himself, but he’d heard enough Jerry’s talking to one another in the past year to know what German sounded like.

  
     Without another word, she took her bag off her shoulder and began to help him unload the remainder of his cargo. Schuer took his leave, and after another half hour of unloading Kristoff was ready to set sail again.

  
     Kathe sat confidently at the bow of the ship, gently stroking Sven (who seemed to have taken a great liking to her) until the shore was out of sight. It was only then that she sagged with relief and shut her eyes tightly.

  
     They sailed along in silence for nearly another hour before she finally stood up and walked to where he was navigating at the bulkhead.

  
     “Thank you for your help back there!” She said cheerfully, catching him off-guard. “I was supposed to meet my contact yesterday at the docks, but they never came, so obviously I assumed it was you and that’s why I came up to you with my code phrase. The response was supposed to be ‘We leave at dawn’ in Norwegian so you can only imagine my panic when you responded in English! Is my Norwegian really so bad that you could tell I was English from the few words I said? Because I was always told my German is really quite good when I was off at boarding school in Switzerland, and my Swedish is good too, so I figured I’d pick up Norwegian just as easily and no one has told me it was bad yet.”

  
     She managed to say all this without taking a breath and Kristoff blinked in surprise.

  
     “No, it wasn’t that bad, your vowels were just a little off... You talk an awful lot for a spy.” He told her with some disdain.

  
     “Yeah, that’s the whole idea. Nobody would expect such a nice, innocent looking girl who talks far too much and is entirely too clumsy for her own good. Really, I’m great under pressure, and a fantastic shot with my pistol! And like I said, I speak great German, and I took a lot of theater classes when I was in school so I’m really good at pretending to be someone I’m not. I’m also really good at keeping secrets!”

  
     “It sure doesn’t seem like it.” Kristoff looked at her with disbelief. “You just told me all of that! What if I had been a Nazi sympathizer?”

  
     “Psh!” She scoffed. “I watched you while they were checking over your boat. You definitely do NOT like the Nazi’s. I could tell from your face! We’ll have to work on that next time.”

  
     “Whoaw, whoaw, whoaw. There is no ‘next time’.”

  
     “Are you sure about that? Your dog would miss me.”

  
     “His name is Sven, and no he wouldn’t.” Kristoff insisted.

  
     Sven, the traitor that he was, was busy rolling onto his back so that his belly could be scratched and completely ignored Kristoff.

  
     “The quicker you join in the fight, the quicker the war will be over.” She stated very matter-of-factly.

  
     Kristoff opened his mouth to retort but shut it again quickly. The girl had a point. Hadn’t he been dying to do something worth-while? To fight back?

  
     When he didn’t respond for a moment a slow smile crept onto her face and then she held out her hand.

  
     “My real name is Anna by the way. Anna Arnold.”

  
     Kristoff regarded her outstretched hand.

  
     “Kristoff Bjorgman.”

  
                                                                                                                                                   *****

  
     Once he started working against them and truly seeing what they were fighting against, Kristoff hated the Nazis even more.

  
     When he and Anna had got back to shore in Lerwick, Anna introduced him to her head of operations, an enormous Norwegian man named Oaken. He had been pleased with Kristoff’s performance and quick thinking, and the fact that he already had a fishing business set up in Arendelle was ideal.

     A team was quickly put together.

  
     This meant twice as much work, because while they were putting false bottoms into the barrels to smuggle things like money, they still had to fill those extra barrels with fish.

  
     Kristoff was the business side of things, the fisherman.

  
     Anna was the distraction for the S.S. soldiers once they were docked.

  
     Sven was to growl at the German’s if they came too close, and he didn’t even have to be trained to do so.

  
     Finally, a young man named Hans was also brought aboard their crew, and his job was to be smuggler, contact, saboteur, and whatever else England needed.

  
     Hans was brought on as Kathe Ivarson’s brother, Lars, under the guise that Kristoff was expanding the family fishing business.

  
     Kristoff found that he didn’t much like the man, and to his surprise, the sunny-dispositioned Anna, who was kind to everyone, didn’t either.

  
     That’s why when Kristoff found himself sitting on a dock in Lerwick, eating cold roast beef sandwiches with Anna on an unseasonably warm and sunny afternoon, he couldn’t help but ask about it.

  
     “Why don’t you like our ginger friend?” He took a bite of his sandwich. “Is it because of his sideburns?”

  
     “Oh.” Anna’s cheeks became pink and she looked down at the dock deliberately. “Well, it’s a bit embarrassing, really… and it doesn’t paint me in the best light.”

  
     “I’m not here to judge.” Kristoff told her.

  
     “Well… We were engaged.”

  
     “Engaged?” Kristoff nearly choked in surprise. “You were engaged to that twat.”

  
     Anna giggled a bit.

  
     “Yes, well I didn’t know him very well. When we met, he was effortlessly charming, and I thought it was the true love that you read about in fairy tales and he proposed rather quickly. Well… I found out he had another bit on the side, and he was really only interested in my family’s money, so I ended it with him. Broke his nose when I did it too, that’s why it’s crooked.”

    “What a bawbag.” Kristoff growled, though for some reason he found he was extremely proud of the fact that she’d hit him when she’d broke it off. “I’m sorry, Anna. You dinnae deserve that.”

  
     “No, you’re right. But the signs were there, and I should have listened to my sister. She warned me about him from the beginning… Besides, the family money is almost completely gone anyway, and he would have figured that out at some point or another, so, really, it was never going to happen. You can only imagine my surprise when we crossed paths at training camp.”

  
     “Why did Oaken put you two on the same circuit if he knows you have history?”

  
     “Because, oddly enough there is not a single other person who can speak Norwegian and can pass for my brother and we felt that was the only way your story would be convincing, if you had family expanding the business, what with you being a loner and all.” Anna gently pushed him with her shoulder then she went quiet for a while, chewing thoughtfully. “Besides, Oaken is very strict about not having any romantic relationships within a circuit, so I think he assumed he wouldn’t have to worry about that being a problem.”

  
     “Hmm.” Kristoff hummed in reply and they both sat quietly for a moment.

  
     “Did I ever tell you about my sister?”

  
     The sudden change in subjects was something Kristoff was beginning to grow accustomed to.

  
     “You said you had one, yes.”

  
     “Her name’s Elsa! She’s a WREN, and I’m so proud of her. I’ve got her picture here, look!”

  
     The photograph she pulled out was of a solemn looking woman.

  
     “She looks like you.” Kristoff noted. “Just not as happy. And blonde.”

  
     “Psh!” Anna scoffed. “I don’t look a thing like Elsa! She’s so beautiful and I’m well… I’m me.”

  
     “You’re beautiful.”

  
     The words left Kristoff’s mouth in such a matter of fact way that he nearly choked on his own sandwich. His eyes shot to her quickly and she had a faint blush tinging her freckle dusted cheeks.

  
     “I mean,” Kristoff continued, “there’s a reason that you’re the one who flirts with the Nazi’s, not me or our buddy with the crooked nose and horrible sideburns.”

  
     Anna giggled and graciously didn’t press the matter further.

  
     “So, do you have any brothers or sisters?” She asked.

                                                                                                                                                      *****

 

     Kristoff hated how clumsy Anna was.

  
     He hated how it was so incredibly endearing and so life threatening at the same time.

  
     One day, the weather turned cold and Anna, being Anna, climbed on top of the bulkhead of the ship to readjust the radio antenna.

  
     “Anna, get down from there.” Kristoff had shouted.

  
     “Well, you can’t very well get up here with your knee, now can you?” She’d replied.

  
     “Anna! Be careful! It’s slick-”

  
     He hadn’t even been able to finish his warning before she slipped on the newly formed ice and fell.

  
     Kristoff could only thank his lucky stars that he had been there to catch her, because he could only imagine the broken bones if he hadn’t.

  
     He had been surprised at just how light she was. He had caught her just under her knees and around her back just under her arms, and he tried desperately not to notice how warm she was as he held her close to him. Or how she smelled faintly of vanilla.

  
     “Whew! Thank you!” She had said cheerfully, completely unconcerned about her near disastrous fall, and given his chest a gentle pat. “I’m lucky you’re so strong.”

  
     With that she had hopped out of his hands happily and left him mumbling nonsense.

  
     Sven gave a happy woof.

  
     “Shut up.” He had grumbled to the dog and had followed Anna down into the cabin below deck where Hans was waiting to discuss their next mission.

 

                                                                                                                                                        *****

 

     Kristoff hated how nosy his family was.

  
     “Coo-ee!” He heard a call, one morning as he sat cleaning some fishing net.

  
     “Oh no.” He gulped.

  
     “What?” Anna asked in concern, her head popping up from where she’d had it bent over a net she’d been mending.

  
     “It’s my mother.” Kristoff groaned.

  
     “Really?” Anna sounded annoyingly hopeful.

  
     “Krissy!” Somebody called as they had come onto the boat. “Permission to come aboard?”

  
     “Well, seeing as you already are aboard-” Kristoff grumbled.

  
     Bulda Bjorgman came into view, a large basket on her arm. She was a short, squat woman, with a round face, which was made lovely by smiling eyes. However, she wasn’t looking up, and was busy digging through the basket she was carrying.

  
     “I’ve brought you a lunch today, and your clean laundry. At dis ma nut in how you manage to get so smelly in such a short time.”

  
     “Mam!” Kristoff barked.

  
     Anna was giggling behind her hand and Kristoff wanted to jump overboard and into the sea.

  
     Bulda looked up and noticed the pretty redhead for the first time.

  
     “Kristoff! You didn’t tell me you had a girl here!” Bulda rushed over and clasped Anna’s hands. “It is such a pleasure to meet you, Kristoff never brings girls ‘round. What’s your name?”

  
     “Anna.” She gave a happy smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too.”

  
     “Oh my! Don’t you sound so well educated! And so lovely too! Yes, I can see you’ll do nicely for our Kristoff!”

  
     “Mam!” Kristoff said, his voice somewhere between a shout and a squeak. “It’s not like that. Anna is just a friend.”

  
     “Oh?” Bulda looked both unbelieving and disappointed. “Well we’ll soon fix that. Have you eaten yet, dearie?”

  
     Anna giggled.

  
     “Not yet, Mrs. Bjorgman.”

  
     “Oh, do call me Bulda. Why don’t you come up to the house for breakfast? It’s not a long walk, I can’t imagine why Kristoff hasn’t brought you by sooner.”

  
     “I can.” Kristoff grumbled and followed reluctantly as his mother pulled Anna off the boat, dreading the bombardment of the rest of his family.

  
     He could only be grateful that Hans hadn’t been there.

 

                                                                                                                                                                *****

 

 

     Kristoff hated the way his family loved Anna.

  
     It was almost painful to have the same conversation with each member of his family over and over.

  
     “No, she is just my friend.” He would repeat again and again.

  
     He was unsure as to why that felt like a knife twisting in his chest.

  
     “But why can’t you marry her?” His littlest sister, Una, had asked with big, forlorn eyes.

  
     Una, who was five, had decided upon meeting Anna that she had to be a princess, because she was just too beautiful to be anything else.

  
     “Because, Anna is just my friend.” He had to explain again.

  
     “Oh.” Una looked disappointed.

  
     Kristoff couldn’t explain why he felt disappointed too, and he hated it.

  
     “I’ve invited Anna for Up Helly Aa here in a few weeks.” Bulda said on another occasion while Kristoff was sitting in her kitchen and she was kneading out bread dough. “She’s never been, so you’ll have to show her around.”

     “Mam, it’s not even a month to Christmas yet.”

  
     “Oh, yes, I’ve invited her ‘round for Christmas, too. Poor dear, doesn’t have any family, save her sister, and she won’t get to see her… so, I told her we’d be happy to have her be a part of the family.”

     “Mam.” Kristoff said warningly.

  
     “Of course, we would be so happy if she were to really become part of the Bjorgman clan.”

  
     “Mam, I’ve told you nearly a thousand times,” Kristoff pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and his thumb, “we are just friends.”

  
     “I’m not trying to meddle.” Bulda lied. “I know you two are working on something secret for the government, that much is obvious. There is no other explanation for why you let that sour-faced man Hans, hang about, but I don’t see why that should prevent you and Anna from-”

     “Mam, just stop.”

 

                                                                                                                                                                     *****

 

     Kristoff hated just how much Anna loved his family back.

  
     He had always thought his family were loud and obnoxious, and the idea of bringing a girl home to them one day had been a terrifying one. He had been convinced that the lot of them would run off any decent match he could have possibly made.

     They didn’t scare Anna, though. She thrived on their chaos.

  
     It made the fact that they really weren’t allowed to be anything more than friends all the more painful somehow.

  
     “I’ve bought all the Christmas presents.” Anna said gleefully, one day, stumbling into the cabin of the boat with her arms full of packages.

  
     “I can see that.” Kristoff said with uplifted eyebrows and held out the mug of tea he’d made for her, knowing she was coming soon.

  
     “I’ve got a new doll for Una,” she held up a parcel proudly, “a swiss army knife for your brother Thorstein.”

  
     “Are you sure that’s wise? He’s only 8.”

  
     “I’ve had approval from your mother.” Anna nodded. “I’ve got Anders a boys-guide book, I really wasn’t sure what else to get him.”

  
     “He’ll love it.”

  
     “For Isla, I’ve bought her some fancy lipstick, all the way from Paris.”

  
     “Oh boy, now I’ll have to start fighting boys off her.” Kristoff sighed.

  
     “I’ve got Johanna a nice, new jumper that I saw her admiring in the shop window the other day.”

  
     “Anna,” Kristoff started to interrupt her, but she continued on.

  
     “I wasn’t quite sure what to get your aunt and uncle, so I’ve just bought them some gloves. I’ve got your mum a new Dutch oven, your dad a new shaving kit, and your Grandpabbie a book on old Norse mythology. I’ve got you something for you, too, but that’s a secret.”

 

     “Anna,” Kristoff said dumbfounded. “you didn’t have to get everyone a gift.”

  
     “I know!” She replied cheerfully, her blue eyes sparkling. “I wanted to. That’s the fun of Christmas.”

  
     “Where did you get all the money for this?” He asked, concerned that she’d made herself bankrupt so she could participate in his family Christmas.

  
     “I said most of the family money is gone… not all of it.” Anna shrugged. “Besides, I’ve always been smart with my earnings.”

  
     “What’s this about money I hear?” Hans came down into the cabin.

  
     Anna scowled at him.

  
     “Piss off, Hans.”

  
     The use of foul language from Anna made Kristoff laugh out loud.

  
     Anna stowed the gifts away and the trio began preparing for their voyage to Norway, but Kristoff was suddenly faced with a new concern. He had no idea what to get Anna for Christmas. What exactly do you get someone who is… well Anna?

 

                                                                                                                                                   *****

 

 

     Kristoff really hated the Nazis.

  
     He hated the way they looked at Anna.

  
     He hated the way she would laugh at whatever it was they said in German and gently touch their arms.

  
     He hated that he wanted to bash his own head against something every time he saw her talking to one of them.

  
     He hated the way that she was so kind to him, giving him the feeling that maybe, just maybe he could be special.

  
     He hated the way he wanted to be special to her.

  
     He hated the way she would effortlessly flirt with guards and then act like nothing at all had happened on their return trips.

  
     He hated that he couldn’t tell what was real with her and what wasn’t.

  
     He hated how she had just bounded into his life and now his chest ached at the mere sight of her. How that had happened, he would never really know.

  
     He hated the way Hans would smirk at him whenever he caught him looking at her.

  
     He hated a lot of things, apparently.

  
     One day, less than a week ‘till Christmas when they were in Arendelle and Anna was flirting with a particularly handsy S.S. officer, he just couldn’t take it anymore.

  
     “Kathe!” He shouted.

  
     Her head snapped up in surprise. He hadn’t intended to sound so loud or harsh, but he couldn’t very well go back in time and change the way he had reacted now.

  
     The S.S. officer who had been playing with her fingertips looked up at him annoyed.

  
     “Vi må gå.” Kristoff told her forcefully in Norwegian.

  
     He could feel Hans smirking over his shoulder, and he wanted to turn around and punch him in the nose and break it more.

  
     Anna’s eyes flashed. It was something that the soldier would never have been able to see, but he could tell she was furious.

  
     He hated that he knew that so well.

  
     “Tell your cousin to relax.” The S.S. officer said in German.

  
     Anna acted her part, pretending to be inconvenienced and annoyed as she bid her flirtatious goodbyes, promising to see him again the next time they were in port, then hopped aboard the boat.

  
     When she walked past him there was a stiffness, like a barely contained rage.

  
     They all readied to set sail towards Shetland and it wasn’t until they were well out of view or earshot that Anna turned on him.

  
     “What in God’s name was that, Bjorgman?” She asked fuming.

  
     “What was what?” Kristoff snapped back.

  
     His response only made her angrier.

  
     He hated it when she was angry.

  
     He really hated how Hans leaned back and placed his hands behind his head as if he were ready to enjoy a show.

  
     “You-know-bloody-well-exactly-what!” She shouted with such speed and ferocity it all sounded like one word. “You could have completely blown our cover if you weren’t more careful!”

  
     “It’s my job to get us safely back to Shetland, and there’s a cold front coming in. I was doing my job!” Kristoff held his ground, though for what reason, he couldn’t understand.

  
     He knew that he had been in the wrong, so he couldn’t wrap his head around why he was so desperate to make his reaction sound reasonable. He supposed it was because he very well couldn’t say ‘I didn’t like the way the Jerry bastard was looking at you, and I want to be the one who makes you laugh and holds your hand.”

  
      “No, you were being a royal prick!” Anna continued. “I was doing my job! I’m supposed to be the distraction, remember? Do you not trust me to do my job? Is that it? Is that why you feel the need to step in?”

  
     Hans began to laugh. It was a slow, almost maniacal chuckle.

  
     “What?” Anna whirled on him.

  
     “Oh, Anna.” He drawled in his posh, nearly sinister baritone. “You are so oblivious.”

  
    “Oblivious to what, Hans?” She growled at him impatiently.

  
     “Don’t you see?” He asked as if it were the plainest, most obvious thing in the world.

  
     “See WHAT?” Anna had become so angry that she was nearly as red as her hair.

  
     “You really don’t know a thing about love, do you?” He sneered at her.

  
     “I- wait. What?”

  
     “You thought I was in love with you when we first met, and now, you can’t see what is so plainly right under your nose. It’s gloriously ironic just how stupid you are, don’t you think?”

  
     Kristoff felt his whole body go hot.

  
     “Shut the fuck up Hans!” Kristoff was on his feet and towering over Hans in an instant. “I swear on all that is holy if you ever speak to her like that again, I will end you.”

  
     Sven, who had been anxiously looking back and forth between the group was up on his massive paws growling at the ginger man viciously.

  
     Kristoff realized that his angry reaction only confirmed what Hans had implied to Anna, but he didn’t care. He would be damned if he ever heard him speak to her in such a way again and didn’t do something about it.

  
     Hans merely gave a wicked grin, though Kristoff took pleasure in the fear that flickered in his eyes for a moment. Kristoff was an intimidating man and Hans knew his threats were by no means empty. Hans then merely shrugged and went to the tiny cabin below deck without another word.

  
     Kristoff hated the deafening silence that followed, and he couldn’t bear to look at Anna, so he stood resolutely to the spot and stared hard at his shoes. The icy wind was cutting through him, but he didn’t move. She moved so quietly he didn’t even realize she was standing right next to him until she spoke.

  
     “What did Hans mean?” She asked softly.

  
     Kristoff didn’t know what to say, so he merely continued to stare at his boots, terrified to look at her. What if he saw repulsion in her face? What if she thought it was funny?

  
     “Kristoff.” She gently placed a hand on his arm, and he felt like he’d been lit on fire. “Are you… are you in love with me?”

  
     The tone of her voice was the only thing that made him look up.

  
     It was tender and sweet and… hopeful.

  
     Kristoff looked into those endlessly blue eyes and saw that they were staring him down expectantly.

  
     “I-“ Kristoff rubbed the back of his neck with the arm she wasn’t touching (he never wanted her to stop touching him) and answered her honestly. “I don’t know. I’ve never been in love before.”

  
     Anna smiled.

  
     She smiled!

  
     Then she gave a small giggle.

  
     “That’s okay! I haven’t really either.” She slid her hand slowly into his. “I mean I was engaged once… but I hope you won’t hold that against me.”

  
     “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He murmured, a goofy smile plastered on his face.

  
     Slowly, she had been getting closer and closer to him, tilting her face upwards. He had been leaning in, almost like a magnet.

  
     “I’m going to kiss you now. Is that alright?” He whispered.

  
     “Please do.” She whispered back.

  
     Her nose was cold from the wind, but her lips were warm and expectant. Kristoff pressed his mouth to hers tenderly and pulled her close to him. Anna let out a soft, happy sigh and placed her hands firmly against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

  
     At first the kiss was gentle, and Kristoff couldn’t believe just how long he had managed to live without ever having tasted her lips. Anna’s arms then snaked up around his neck and pulled his head down closer, and her lips parted allowing his tongue to explore. He pulled her flush against him and she sighed when he gently bit her lip.

  
     It took everything within his power to pull away.

 

     “Did I do something wrong?” Anna asked, her brow crimping in worry.

 

     “No, not at all. You did everything very, very right. I just…” He took a deep breath and tried to get some blood back to his brain. “I needed to take a break…”

 

     “Oh.” Anna blushed and smiled.

  
     She kept her arms wrapped around his neck and stroked the somewhat shaggy hair at the nape of his neck. It sent trills through him, but he wasn’t about to ask her to stop.

  
     “So, what now?” He asked.

  
     “What now?” Anna repeated, then pulled away from him slightly, though she stayed within his grasp, and he could see a worried expression take over. “Oh, no! What are we going to do?”

  
     “I don’t know.” Kristoff shrugged.

  
     Suddenly Anna looked guarded and stiffened.

  
     “I can’t stop doing this work, Kristoff.”

  
     “I know.” He raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t dream of asking you to. That’s not what I meant.”

  
     “Oh.” Anna relaxed again, leaning back into him a bit. “What did you mean?”

  
     “I was wondering what we do now seeing as Oaken doesn’t want any romantic relationships in his units.”

  
     “Oh. Well I’m sure we can hide it from him.”

  
     “Really? What about Hans?”

  
     “That’s easy. I’ll go down into the cabin in a few minutes and act all awkward, and we’ll just not ever look at one another when he’s around. Pretend that we had a big falling out instead of snogging one another.”

  
     “Sounds like you’ve thought this through.” Kristoff hummed, leaning down to kiss her again.

  
     They hadn’t been at it for very long before Anna pulled away again.

  
     “But… You got so jealous today… I thought you would want me to quit?”

  
     “No, you love what you do, and it’s such important work, I could never ask you to quit.” Kristoff then struggled to find the words. “As long as I know that- well that, you’re coming home to me, so to speak, I swear it won’t bother me.”

  
     Anna raised a skeptical eyebrow.

  
     “I’m serious.” He insisted, then leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. “I just want to be yours, Anna.”

  
                                                                                                                                                           *****

 

     Kristoff hated how desperate this war made them feel.

  
     More than anything he wanted to do things right with Anna, but they just felt so anxious. So close to death.

  
     It happened about three days after Up Helly Aa.

  
     It had been a wonderful, magical Christmas. He’d decided to get Anna a pair of proper boots so she didn’t slip when she climbed up on top of the hull anymore and found her a matching emerald green hat and scarf to go with it (His Ma had insisted that he should have got her an engagement ring, but he quickly silenced that notion, trying to continue the charade that they were just friends). Anna had found him the most spectacular antique navigation set that he thought looked suspiciously like it was laid in real gold, complete with star charts. He had been so pleased he’d nearly kissed her in front of his whole family but had managed to stop himself just in time.

  
     He had given her a proper snogging later, though.

  
     Up Helly Aa came and they were nearly caught at the celebration. Kristoff had reached over to hold Anna’s hand when Una came bounding up and asked what they were doing.

  
     Kristoff decided he hated keeping secrets.

  
     It was on their next mission that Oaken had come to inform them that the agent Hans had been set to meet had been discovered and had been executed publicly.

  
     It had been a twenty-year-old girl.

  
     All Kristoff could think was how Anna was twenty years old.

  
     It felt entirely too young.

  
     When Kristoff walked Anna home to her private flat after that mission, he held onto her tightly at her doorstep, worried that she might disappear if he let her out of his grasp.

  
     “Please don’t go.” She whispered into his chest.

  
     “Anna, I shouldn’t stay.” He said regretfully. “I wouldn’t want to hurt your reputation.”

  
     “I don’t care about that.” She insisted.

  
     “Yes, but I do. I know that your neighbors don’t really know who you are, or what you’re doing here in Lerwick, but I would hate for them to think you were…” He trailed off.

  
     “That I’m what?”

  
      “Immoral.” He finished as delicately as he could.

  
      She stared at him long and hard.

  
     “Kristoff, do you love me?”

  
     The question caught him off guard.

  
     “Well, I- well, yes. I do.” He stammered at first but finished resolutely.

  
     He did love her. He hadn’t been sure before but now he knew that he did.

  
     He might not have ever been in love before, but he knew it had to feel like this.

  
     That feeling like she had become his whole entire world, and he merely lived to make her happy.

  
     She smiled at him, and despite her forward question he could tell she blushed a bit at his answer even in the darkness.

  
     “Well, I love you too.” She looked up at him through her eyelashes and he felt as if his heart expanded. “If two people love each other, what can be immoral about that?”

  
     Kristoff pulled her closer to him and gave her a deep kiss.

  
     “That is a fair argument.”

  
     “I thought so.” She gave him a proud smile then turned serious. “Kristoff, please. I want to be with you.”

  
     The way she had said the words ‘with you’ made his eyes shoot down to hers quickly. She was staring at him with a firmness that made his throat go dry.

  
     She clearly meant more than just being in his presence, and just the thought of it made his blood rush south.

  
     “Anna- I…” He couldn’t find the words and suddenly felt frustrated.

  
     “I don’t want to regret anything.” She whispered to him urgently.

  
     “Is this because of the girl that was executed in Arendelle?”

  
     Anna was quiet for a moment but then gently nodded into his chest.

  
     “Goddammit, I hate this war!” Kristoff suddenly burst out, and Anna jolted to look up at him in surprise. “I want to do things the right way with you. I want to court you, to go out on dates and spend time holding your hand at the movies, and I want to be able to tell people you’re my girl. I want to take it slow with you and some day give you my grandma’s old ring and marry you in a church. But this goddam War is taking all that away from me!”

  
     Kristoff couldn’t quite read Anna’s expression.

  
     “You really want that?”

  
     “Yes.” He leaned down to give her another kiss and realized that Anna was crying. “Anna, what’s wrong?”

  
     “Nothing!” She insisted, wiping her tears from her cheeks quickly. “That was just… sweet, is all. It was actually really sweet.”

  
     “Oh.” Kristoff pulled her closer and held her for a moment. “I know what you mean though… I don’t want to regret anything.”

  
     This time it was her turn to look up at him sharply.

  
     She watched him closely.

  
     “So… You’ll stay?”

  
     Kristoff leaned down to kiss her again, this time more fervently.

  
     “I’ll do whatever you ask me to.”

  
                                                                                                                                                                 *****

 

  
     As winter turned slowly into spring, Kristoff didn’t have much time to think about the things he hated.

  
     Sure, he still hated the Nazis.

  
     But mostly he was focused on Anna.

  
     It didn’t bother him so much when she flirted with Nazi guards, especially as she continued to wear her emerald green scarf as it got warmer to cover up the marks he had left on her neck.

  
     It didn’t bother him so much that they had to keep their relationship hidden from his family when she would slide her dainty foot slowly up his leg underneath the dinner table causing him to choke on his food.

 

     It didn’t bother him so much whenever Hans would give him arrogant glances, because he knew exactly where all of Anna’s freckles were, and that bastard had never had the pleasure.

  
     Most every night he spent at Anna’s house, dropping her off at the front door with a polite farewell for the benefit of her neighbors, then sneaking round back and hopping her garden fence when no one was looking and walking in the back door.

 

     In her little flat it felt like a different world.

 

     In that world he got to hold Anna’s hand.

  
     In that world he got to make her dinner and talk about their hopes and dreams.

  
     In that world he got to pull her onto his lap as they kissed on her couch.

  
     In that world he got to kiss her neck.

  
     And her collarbone.

  
     And her breasts.

  
     He got to carry her to the bed they now shared and take off any remaining clothes they were wearing.

  
     He got to make love to the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

  
     In that world he got to hold her close as they fell asleep and wake up with her bright red hair all over his pillow.

  
     He loved that world.

  
     The only trouble was, they didn’t get to live in that world often enough.

  
     They became experts at hiding it with other people around, but it was almost painful to not enjoy the simple domestic pleasures whenever they were out in public. They would get snatches of time together on the boat when they were alone, but those times were few and far between.

  
     The only time he really struggled to keep it hidden was when he would stare.

  
     And it was so easy to stare.

  
     A wisp of her hair would work its way from one of her plaits and he would watch it carefully, firmly telling his hand not to reach out and tuck it behind her ear.

  
     She would throw her head back and laugh, and he would become fixated with the curve of her neck.

  
     Or she would bend over to pick something up on the boat and he would lose all train of thought and would have to yank his gaze away to keep from ogling her bum.

  
     Most of the time she was completely oblivious to just how much she affected him, but there were times when he could see that she knew.

  
     He would look up after staring at her marvelously shaped legs or admiring the way her sweater had clung to her twisting form, to see her looking straight back at him. She would have an impish smile and her blue eyes would be dark with lust.

  
     It was hard to wait until they got back to Anna’s flat on those days.

  
     Some days they couldn’t.

  
     Anna would leave his boat at the same time Hans did, then double back because she had “forgot” her hat. Kristoff would pull the shades in the cabin, lock the door and hope they didn’t rock the boat too much.

  
     Or Bulda would ask them to go fetch the extra china from the attic, and Kristoff would bolt the garret door and push her up against the wall, knowing they only had a few moments before their absence was noticed.

 

     Kristoff would leave those situations with a bite mark in his shoulder where Anna had muffled her pleasured screams.

  
     He found it hard to hate much on those days.

 

                                                                                                                                                         *****

  
     Kristoff hated how he hadn’t even seen it coming.

  
     He hated how naive they had been to think that Hans was oblivious to he and Anna being together. Hans was a bastard, but he wasn’t stupid.

  
     Kristoff shivered in the dank cellar of a random butcher shop in Arendelle. It was summer, but underground, constantly being doused with water in nothing but his briefs, there was a chill that had set into his bones.

     He hadn’t really been prepared for the psychological pressure of being tortured. He had been trained, but nothing really prepared you for it. He had been instructed to give at least 48 hours before he broke, so those in his circuit would have a chance to realize he was missing and disband. He held out much longer than that though, and even when he did start talking, he refused to give up Anna.

 

     The only thing that kept him going was the knowledge that he had seen Anna pull out her pistol and shoot Hans dead.

  
     That, and the fact that he had just so happened to leave Sven at his parent’s house. That brought him some comfort, knowing his dog was safe.

  
     He kept hoping that Anna had got away.

  
     He hated that he didn’t know if she had escaped.

  
                                                                                                                                                        *****

 

 

 


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second part! Enjoy!

 

     Kristoff hated Nazis. Hated them.

     But he found he didn’t hate Germans.

     He spent the better part of two months chained five feet away from none other than Officer Schuer. It took him a few weeks to discover who his cell mate was, as they were separated by a large freezer and weren’t allowed to stand to see over or around it. It took him even longer to figure out what had caused the S.S. officer to suffer the same fate as he had.

  
     “I helped your cousin escape.” He whispered underneath the small gap between the wall and the back of the ice box.

  
     Kristoff had been so delirious from pain he hadn’t understood him at first.

  
     “My cousin?”

  
     “Yes, Kathe.”

  
     “Kathe.” Kristoff had repeated.

  
     Then Kristoff had collapsed into a heap of ugly sobs that were so loud a guard came down and firmly planted a kick into his ribs.

  
     Kristoff didn’t care. Anna was alive. That was all that mattered.

  
                                                                                                                                                             *****

 

     It was sheer hate that got him through.

  
     He hated the Nazi’s.

  
     He hated the grueling work they put him through.

  
     He hated that they didn’t just shoot him and get it over with.

  
     He hated how he went from being a strong young lad with determination and grit who only had a small fault of a twisted knee, to something that resembled a human skeleton.

  
     He hated how he watched people, like Schuer, die around him.

  
     He hated being cold.

  
     He hated being hungry.

  
     He hated war.

  
     Mostly he hated that he couldn’t be with Anna.

  
     His every night was filled with dreams of her so vivid that he would almost forget that he was living in hell.

  
     The war was nowhere near over, but there had been whispers of the Norwegian Naval Independent Unit gaining 3 miracle ships. Submarines. Kristoff didn’t want to believe it was true. He had begun to hate hoping.

  
     Then, one night, unexpectedly, he and several other POW’s had been rescued. It had been a wild-eyed saboteur who had reminded him of Anna.

 

                                                                                                                                                                *****

 

     Kristoff hated being interrogated by his own countrymen.

  
     He hated being treated like he had done something wrong when the only thing he had been guilty of was surviving.

  
     He was put in solitary confinement for a week.

  
     Kristoff hated it, but at least he had been given food. First broths, then rich, hearty, Scottish soups, and then slowly, ever so slowly, bread. Glorious bread. Then apples and cheese.

  
     He decided he could live in a room all by himself for the rest of his life so long as he could eat apples and cheese.

  
     At the end of it all it had been Oaken who had walked in the door and Kristoff had never been so happy to see the giant Norseman in his whole life.

  
     “Vhat happened my friend?”

  
     “It was Hans.” Kristoff shook his head at the memory. “The fucker betrayed us.”

  
     Oaken nodded, undisturbed by his language.

  
     “Zhat much we had learned from Anna.”

  
     Kristoff nearly fell over at the mention of her name. It had been so long since he had heard it spoken aloud that he almost had forgotten that other people knew she existed.

  
     “She told us,” Oaken continued, “that Hans betrayed you both to the Nazi’s. Anna then shot him and managed to run and hide out in a ditch near the marina for two days. She had then tried to sneak aboard a boat. She was assisted by an officer named Schuer who helped her escape unnoticed.”

  
     “Yes. Schuer was killed for that.” Kristoff said bleakly.

  
     “You know this?” Oaken seemed surprised.

  
     “He was my cellmate, for lack of a better word. We were tortured together until they realized he had no information to give, and they shot him.”

  
     Oaken went quiet for a moment.

  
     “Kristoff, I vas sent in here to evaluate vhether or not you are telling the truth.”

  
     Kristoff didn’t reply, merely stared.

  
     “Anna was very insistent that you had nothing to do wiz the betrayal, and I don’t believe you gave anything away. I can tell by the look of you zhat you were not treated well.”

  
     Kristoff was surprised when he heard a hollow laugh come out of his own mouth. He had forgotten he could laugh.

  
     “I say,” Oaken announced, “you are free to go back to your life. Go tell your family that you are alive and as well as you can be.”

  
     “What about Anna?” Kristoff blurted.

  
     The tall man turned to look at him with knowing eyes. Kristoff realized that they hadn't been fooling anybody. 

  
     “Where is she?” Kristoff’s voice felt small.

  
     “She retired. That is all I know.”

 

                                                                                                                                                                         *****

 

     It took Kristoff days to work up the courage to go to Anna’s flat.

 

     He hated how he still looked like a scarecrow, and he refused to go to see his family while he still looked in that state.

  
     When he knocked on the door he was answered by a weasel-like old man.

  
     “Oh.” Kristoff said in surprise.

  
     “Well?” The old man had squawked, obviously annoyed at being disturbed. “What do you want?”

  
     “Um. Is Anna Arnold here?”

  
     “I’ve never heard that name before.”

  
     “Oh, I’m sorry.” Kristoff felt stupid, he should have known she wouldn’t be living there anymore. “She used to live here.”

  
     “The only thing I know about her is she moved to Glasgow to get married.”

  
     The old man shut the door in his face.

  
     Kristoff remained on the doorstep absolutely thunderstruck.

 

     Anna had gotten married.

 

     His Anna.

  
     Married.

  
                                                                                                                                                                      *****

 

   

     ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’

 

     Overall, Kristoff hated the mantra. He didn’t want to keep calm, he didn’t want to carry on. What he wanted was to cease existing, or to possibly go back in time and never have met Anna.

  
     That would make all his troubles go away. That would make it so he could sleep at night.

  
     But Kristoff got on with life.

  
     He went back to work for his dad, fishing the North Sea, though he didn’t go to Norway any longer, and he refused to go out on a boat by himself. Not that he had much of a choice, as his faithful ship was lost to the Nazis.

  
     He helped his mom make family dinner every Sunday. He hated that she kept asking about Anna.

  
     “You should at least make an effort to try and find her.” Bulda would say. “She deserves to know that you’re alive.”

  
     “No.” Kristoff would reply firmly.

  
     “But she was your friend.”

  
     Kristoff hated that he didn’t have a response for that.

  
     He told himself that he understood why Anna had moved on. She thought he was dead. It made perfect sense for her to get on with her life, the same way he was now getting on with his.

  
     He just never would have believed it could be quite so quick.

  
     He took Sven for walks along seaside, throwing sticks for the woof-y dog to fetch. He was unbelievably grateful to still have his furry friend, though he hated the forlorn looks he would give Kristoff that clearly said he missed Anna.

 

     He walked his younger siblings to school, and he held Una’s hand as she skipped along. He hated when she would bring up how sad he looked.

  
     “I’m not sad,” Kristoff would tell her, “I’ve got you.”

  
     “But you look sad, Krissy.”

  
     He hated that he had no way to explain to a little girl the horrors he had been through. He hated that the worst thing he was suffering from was a broken heart.

  
     He hated how the world kept turning, yet Anna never seemed to fade.

  
     Even when the War ended, everybody celebrated, but Kristoff still had to drink himself to sleep.

  
                                                                                                                                                            *****

 

 

     Kristoff hated the nightmares.

  
     Sometimes they were about him being tortured. Sometimes he was holding onto Schuer's hand as he died. Sometimes he was desperately trying to shield his family from the S.S. officers that had so happily tried to pick him apart.

 

     But mostly his dreams were about Anna.

  
     She would be freezing to death in a ditch in Norway.

  
    Or she would be the one being tortured.

  
     Worse than those dreams were the ones where they were in her flat again, like nothing had happened at all. They would be cooking dinner, or he would be holding her in bed. He would wake up and for a brief moment he could almost feel her beside him, and he would smell that faintly vanilla smell.

  
     Then he would realize he was alone.

 

                                                                                                                                                            *****

     It was a year before his Mam convinced him to go to Glasgow.

  
     “It’s only a bit of shopping for your father, I don’t know why you’re being so stubborn about it!” Bulda would tut. “Your Da cannae keep up at the same pace, or he’ll hurt himself.”

  
     Kristoff groaned, because his Mam was right. Cliff was getting older and it was difficult for him to make the trip to Glasgow to pick up big heavy equipment.

  
     “He’s leaving you the business when he retires, why you would want to make life harder on him now…”

  
     “I’ll go!” Kristoff grumbled.

  
     Glasgow was a big city. There was no way he would run into her.

  
     He hated how much that thought terrified him.

  
                                                                                                                                                          *****

 

     He only went to Glasgow every couple of months. He hated the city. It was loud.

  
     By the fourth trip to Glasgow he had started bringing Sven with him. On his first trip he had seen a lovely park and thought to himself that the mangy mutt would like a change in scenery. So, despite the difficulty of traveling with a nearly 50 Kilo dog he brought Sven along.

  
     And Sven did like the park. In quiet, foggy afternoons Kristoff would let him off his lead and Sven would dart after ducks and frogs. Kristoff would keep to the path, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, Sven circling back to find him.

 

     One such afternoon Kristoff noticed that Sven had been gone longer than usual.

  
     “Sven!” He called, but no gargantuan hound came bounding out from the fog.

  
     He inserted his fingers into his mouth and let out a wolf-whistle. From some distance away he heard a ‘woof’ in reply and small shrieks.

  
     Kristoff set off running towards the sound.

  
     Sven had always been a gentle, kind dog, unless he felt threatened. That was why it had been so easy for him to growl at Nazis.

  
     He had a mental image of his dog trotting up to play with somebody who, in fear and misunderstanding, tried to hurt the dog. Sven, being frightened wouldn’t hesitate to bite someone.

  
     “Sven!” He cried out in a panic.

  
     There was more shrieking, and Sven gave out another bark. As he got closer though, he could hear other barks, small yippy barks, and he realized that the shrieking sounded like laughter.

  
     He came around a bend to see a blonde young woman kneeling beside a little ginger girl, who was giggling madly at what Kristoff assumed was her fluffy white puff of a dog playing with Sven.

  
     “Aunt Ewsa!” The little girl giggled. “Wook at them pway!”

  
     “Sven.” Kristoff said sternly, and the dog looked up at him with big doleful eyes and dropped his tail. “I’m so sorry, ladies, I didn’t think anyone else was in the park today.”

  
     “That’s quite alright, the dogs were just having a bit of fun.” The blonde woman replied, glancing up to look at him.

  
     When she did, she stopped short, all color draining from her already pale face.

  
     Kristoff, too, stood stock still.

  
     He had seen her before. Once. Years ago, in a black and white photo.

  
     Kristoff wondered how she recognized him. Had Anna showed her his picture right before she married another man?

  
     “Hewwo!” The little girl interrupted their realization. “My name is Freja! What’s your name?”

  
     Kristoff glanced down at the her. She couldn’t be any older than three, though he thought two was a more likely age. It was so clearly Anna’s daughter that it was almost painful. She had the same fiery red hair, the same rosy, freckle dusted cheeks, the same little chin, same big smile, same petite nose… but her eyes were big and brown.

  
     Before Kristoff even had a chance to respond, her voice was right behind him.

  
     “What’s this?”

  
     He had gone years now without hearing her voice, and yet it had haunted him every night in his dreams. It was oddly like being asleep to hear it again.

  
     “Anna-“

  
     The blonde woman, Elsa, Anna’s sister, was on her feet and looking just past Kristoff.

  
     He turned to see her standing there in the middle of the walking path. Hair slightly ruffled in the breeze.

  
     She looked a bit different. Not older, but more mature. She was dressed in a very professional manner, all brown hues, the only bit of color was the emerald green scarf she wore tightly wrapped around her neck. Her hair was tied back in a skilled bun, little tendrils working their way out to flow in the wind.

 

     The fog around her made her look like he was having one of his dreams again.

  
     He noticed a wedding ring on her finger. He hated the way it glinted menacingly at him.

  
     Maybe this was one of his nightmares.

  
     Kristoff thought Anna might faint. She swayed slightly. Much like she had on his boat the first day he had met her when he had saved her from discovery.

  
     Sven broke their reverie and gave a happy woof, leaping up to her and licking her ears.

  
     “Mummy!” The little girl, Freja, called. “Wook! We made fweinds!”

  
    “I can see that, darling.” Anna choked out, petting Sven affectionately and still looking at Kristoff as if she had seen a ghost.

  
     “What’s your name fwiend?” Freja asked skipping up to him and grabbing his hand.

  
     “Erm, Kri-“ His throat was so dry, he had to swallow, and her warm little fingers startled him. “Kristoff.”

  
     “Oh!” The little girl’s face lit up. “Like the Kristoff from the stories?”

  
     “Stories?” Kristoff questioned.

  
     “Erm-“ Elsa interjected, coming to take her niece’s hand, “Freja, let’s take Olaf down to the pond. Let’s give Mummy and Kristoff a moment.”

  
     “Okay!” She readily agreed and quickly snatched the lead for the fluffy white dog. “Let’s go play, Owaf!”

  
     Olaf yipped happily and bounced alongside Freja and Elsa, Sven quickly hurrying after them.

  
     That left Kristoff and Anna alone.

  
     She took two steps towards him. Then two more. She was nearly within reach now.

  
     “I- I…. I thought you were dead.” She whispered, tears in her eyes. “They told me you were dead.”

  
     “I was rescued.” Kristoff shrugged.

  
     Anna took another half step towards him. She was so close. So tantalizingly close. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab her and crush her to himself. She even leaned towards him, as if she were asking him to do just that.

  
     The wedding ring glared at him.

  
     So, he stiffened and took a small step back.

  
     “You look well.” He replied primly.

  
     His formality shocked her, and he could tell she was hurt by it, but she continued on, gently tucking a small strand of hair behind her ear.

  
     “Erm, yes. I’m a school teacher now.”

  
     “Mmm.” Kristoff nodded, idly thinking how well suited she was for such a position.

  
     “And you?”

  
     “Slowly taking over Da’s business. That’s why I’m in Glasgow.”

  
     “Right.” Anna nodded, then her face went soft again, and she took another step towards him. “Kristoff… why…?”

  
     “What about your husband?” Kristoff asked bluntly.

  
     “Husband?” Anna was visibly confused.

  
     “Yes. Your Husband.” The words tasted bitter coming from his mouth. “What does he do?”

  
     Anna shook her head quickly.

  
     “I don’t have a husband.”

  
     “What’s that then?” He gestured to the ring on her finger.

  
     He hated how accusatory he sounded, and how harsh his voice was when he spoke.

  
     Anna held up her hand and twiddled the ring on her finger.

  
     “It’s… it’s not real. It’s my… cover story.” She looked down at the ground and gave an ironic laugh. “After all these years I’m still living a false life.”

  
     Kristoff was struggling to make sense of what she was saying, and he knew he was scowling in confusion.

  
     “So… You’re…?”

  
     “I’m not married.” She shook her head.

  
     “But what about your daughter?”

  
     As soon as he said it his brain kicked into gear.

  
     It had been how long since he and Anna...?

  
     He knew he had seen those brown eyes before. They looked back at him from the mirror every day.

  
     “She’s…” Kristoff nearly choked on his own tongue. “Mine?”

  
     “Mhmm.” Anna nodded, tears pricking her beautiful blue eyes again.

  
     Kristoff felt his knees buckle. The revelation was just too much, and he sat down harshly on the gravel path and put his head in his hands. He reminded himself to take slow deep breaths.

  
     “I’m sorry,” Anna rushed to his side, gently placing her hand on his arm, “I know it’s a lot to take. I knew I was pregnant right before our last mission but didn’t get a chance to tell you. I understand if you… if you don’t want to be involved.”

  
     This made Kristoff’s head snap up.

  
     “What?”

  
     “I just… If you’ve been avoiding us for this long, I would understand if you didn’t want to be involved in our lives… I’ve got on perfectly well without you, I just ask that you don’t expose me.”

  
     She looked on the verge of tears.

  
     “Expose you?” Kristoff’s head was still spinning from both the revelation that he had a daughter with Anna, the fact that Anna wasn’t married, and the fact that she was kneeling right beside him with her hand on his arm.

  
     “Yes. I’ve forged some documents to make it look like we got married.” Anna informed him, and while Kristoff sat marveling at her, Anna rambled on. “I moved here and told everyone my husband died fighting so that I could give Freja the best life possible. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a proper position if I were a… fallen woman. An unwed mother. But a war widow would be met with sympathy and open arms. So, I falsified some forms and changed my name to Anna Bjorgman and the only person who knew about it was Elsa. She was shot and injured, so she moved in with me shortly before Freja was born… and like I’ve said, we’ve got along perfectly fine, so I would understand if you didn’t want to be a part of our lives, but if you would maybe just get to know Freja-”

  
     At this point Kristoff cut her off.

  
     Still sitting on the gravel path, he grabbed hold of her wrist and yanked her into his lap and silenced her with a kiss.

  
     A fantastic, passionate, greedy kiss. Anna responded enthusiastically in kind.

  
     “If you think,” Kristoff punctuated each word with a kiss on a different part of her face, “I’m going to let you go again, you are sorely mistaken.”

  
     Anna pulled back slightly, breathless and elated, though her cheeks were glistening with tears.

  
     “But… why didn’t you come find me?”

  
      “I was told you had gotten married.” Kristoff nuzzled his face into her neck, drinking in that fantastic vanilla scent that was entirely Anna. “I thought it was to someone else.”

  
     “I would never.” Anna wrapped her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair.

  
     “Stupid mistake.” Kristoff rested his lips in the crook of her collarbone. “Forgive me?”

  
     “Of course.” Anna whispered.

  
     Her body began to shake slightly, and Kristoff realized she was crying, and he looked up at her.

  
     “What’s wrong?” He searched into her caerulean eyes carefully.

  
     “Nothing!” She insisted, giggling and sobbing all at once. “I just can’t believe it! I can’t believe you’re alive! You have to come meet Freja.”

  
     They both stood, and Anna pulled him by the hand in the direction of the pond Elsa had spoke of.

  
     “Why Freja?” Kristoff asked, a sloppy grin plastered on his face as he felt Anna’s fingers pulling him along once again.

  
     “Hmm?”

  
     “Why the name Freja?”

  
     “Oh!” Anna turned to look at him as they walked. “I wanted to honor your heritage… her heritage and go with something Scandinavian… and Freja was the goddess of love in the old mythology. I thought it seemed fitting for a baby who was born from love, even if it wasn’t in marriage… Do you like it?”

  
     She seemed worried and Kristoff squeezed her fingers reassuringly and laid a kiss on her forehead.

  
     “It’s perfect.”

  
     “Mummy!” The little voice interrupted. “Wook what the puppies are doing!”

  
     Sven and Olaf were chasing one another round and round in circles while both Elsa and Freja watched, amused.

  
     “I see that darling!” Anna said with shining eyes. “Now come here, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

  
     “I know who that is,” Freja said in a matter of fact manner as she ambled up to her mother, “that’s Kristoff.”

  
     “Yes, but this,” Anna gestured to Kristoff, “is the Kristoff from the stories I tell you.”

  
     “Reawwy?” The little girl’s face lit up.

  
     “Yes, and…” Anna hesitated, looking both unsure of the information she was about to divulge and ecstatic, “this is your father.”

  
     Freja looked confused.

  
     “I thought you said my Daddy was gone?”

  
     “I was just missing,” Kristoff told her, squatting down on his haunches and gingerly reaching out to touch his daughter’s cheek, “but now that I’ve found you, I won’t ever be going away again.”

  
     After a moment of thought, Freja decided that this was a reasonable explanation and flung her arms around his neck in response.

  
                                                                                                                                                                  *****

 

     There were still a few things that Kristoff hated.

  
     He hated being away from his family for more than a day or two. It was a rare occasion, but it did happen every now and again.

  
    He still hated nightmares. He would wake up in a cold sweat, but Anna was always right there beside him to hold onto him and whisper soothing things into his ear.

  
     Other than that, there wasn’t much else to plague him.

  
     Hate gave way to a whole new world.

  
     He loved the sea. It made his job easier, which was hard work, but he would go so far as to say he actually did like being a fisherman.

  
     He loved his dogs. Both Sven and Olaf, who enjoyed one another’s company entirely too much. Though, Kristoff wasn’t entirely sure if he could really call them ‘his’ dogs as they were both wholly devoted to both his wife and sister-in-law.

 

     He loved his home. It was a small cottage that sat on a craggy hill and overlooked the water that was affectionately titled 'The Farm' due to the number of animals that found a home there. It was a bit of a tight fit, but his family was what made it cozy, not uncomfortable.

  
     He loved his family. He loved how happy they were to officially have Anna be a part of their clan. He loved how his siblings became such fantastic aunts and uncles, and how his parents fell so in love with being grandparents. He loved how easily and naturally Elsa had blended in to their midst, despite her quiet and reserved nature.

  
     Bulda had been a bit shocked to learn that she had a granddaughter and spent all of ten seconds scolding Anna for keeping her hidden from them before she enveloped both mother and daughter into a bone-crushing hug.

 

     Occasionally people would still whisper about the morality with which Kristoff and Anna had come to be together. Kristoff did hate that. It broke his heart that anybody would think badly of his wife, but he loved the way she would merely shrug it off then look up at him with glittering eyes. He also loved the way that if Bulda ever caught anyone whispering she would shout them down, saying things like ‘It was the War!’ ‘He who is without sin!’ ‘You have no idea what they did for you and this country! I have no idea what they did for this country! You owe them your lives!’

  
     Kristoff was absolutely devoted to his children.

  
     Freja was feisty.

  
     Then came Bjorn, his stoic little warrior.

  
     Then Arvid, his wild child.

  
     Then Niels, his little scholar.

  
     Finally, Heidi his tender-hearted girl.

  
     Each was unique and each was whole-heartedly loved.

  
     Most important of all, Kristoff adored his wife. His wife! Anna was his wife. That knowledge was enough to cause his heart to swell on even the most difficult days.

  
     Occasionally she would have nightmares too. Or she would get a hardened look on her face that told Kristoff she was thinking of a much less peaceful time. He would merely wrap his arms around her, and her sweet smile would come back.

     Her warm and giving nature was much better suited to that of a mother and school teacher than it ever was to a spy.  
    

     Kristoff loved each day with her. Each time he got to reach out and simply intertwine her fingers with his. Each time he got to come up behind her and bury his nose into her neck and leave small kisses on her freckled skin. Each time he simply got the chance to smile at her, to laugh with her.

  
     Kristoff loved each night with her. Each time he got to worship her body. Each time he got to hold her. Each time they both collapsed in bed, too exhausted to do anything accept crawl under the covers.  
He loved it all.

  
     He didn’t have much time to think about the things he used to hate.

  
     Hate gave way to life.

 

 


End file.
